Navigating the occasional angler whose fishing rods crisscrossed her path, Claudia didn’t miss a step. Her pace slowed only when the path narrowed into the approach of a forty-foot tunnel. The dull thud of running shoes on well-trodden earth was replaced by the thump of rubber on sandstone. It had taken a bit longer than she had expected to get there, but Karin had waited obediently.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ she said as the sound of her laboured breaths echoed off the walls.

Consumed in shadow, Karin’s complexion appeared sallow. Her scarf was wrapped around her neck, and there was an unpleasant yellow stain on it. As Claudia drew closer, she could smell the bitterness of bile.

‘You’ll have to forgive me for not hugging,’ she added. ‘I’m quite sweaty.’

‘Why would I want to hug you? We’re not friends.’ Karin’s words were as sour as her breath.

‘Oh, I thought we were. I hoped we were,’ Claudia replied, unfazed by the welcome that was as cold as the frost clinging to the smooth edges of the canal. She released a sigh as she lifted her gaze to the arched roof and admired the graffiti inflicted by marker pens and penknives. ‘I used to hang out here with my friends when I was younger. We had this challenge to see who could write their name up highest. I remember balancing on a boy’s shoulders while his heels hung over the water. I don’t know how we didn’t fall in.’

She squinted at the old bricks. Was her name still up there? Justin would be horrified if he knew what she had got up to.

‘Did you sneak down here with my brother?’

‘Ah, you’ve been speaking to Leanne again.’

‘So you’re not denying it?’

‘This is getting tedious. Karin. I never met your brother,’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘Then how did you know what happened in Donegal? Declan was ashamed of what he did. Even his ex doesn’t know about her sister.’

‘Gosh, he had an affair with his sister-in-law?’ Claudia said, feigning shock. ‘Little wonder he had to do a runner.’

‘You already knew. Leanne—’

‘Leanne told you,’ Claudia said, her patience snapping. ‘Can’t you see she’s playing with you? How many reporters did you have hanging around when Declan was suspected of causing the fire? How many do you think turned up on his ex-wife’s doorstep, or her sister’s for that matter? I don’t know where Leanne got her information, but it didn’t come from me.’

Karin placed the palm of her gloved hand on her forehead. Her bloodshot eyes closed briefly. ‘You’re the one who’s trying to play me. The only reason I had tickets for that night was to do your job while you were with my brother. You were pulling the strings then, and you think you’re doing it now.’